Sotheby's held two auctions of modern art on Oct 14th in its London salesroom. This was done to take advantage of the large number of collectors who were there for the annual Frieze fair.

Bidding on the roughly 50 lots on offer was solid, if not always spectacular, and it's safe to say that US buyers continued to take advantage of the record strength of the dollar compared to the British pound. The night started with a smaller sale of 17 pieces called "The Now." This was ultra-modern art that auctioneer and international senior specialist Michael Macauley called "the most exciting and sought-after art of our time" and said was made by "great talents." It brought in $13 million, which was close to the high end of what was expected before the sale. This was true even though one lot, a work by Avery Singer, was pulled shortly before the sale. In this section, two pieces, a painting by Jonas Wood and a Banksy, had irrevocable bids from third parties. 

▲ Sotheby's Salesroom, Courtesy of flickers

The chairman of Europe, Oliver Barker, took charge of the 31 lot contemporary evening sale, which made $98.7 million. 20%, were taken off the market before the sale. This suggests that there were some last-minute nerves.

Seven lots in the main sale were guaranteed. Two were directly guaranteed by the house, and the other five were backed by irrevocable bids from third parties. This meant that the house was once again able to spread out some of the risk.

Sotheby's said that the total of $107.4 million was its highest evening sale during Frieze week since 2015.

Sayart.net LUHA LEE luhachloe@gmail.com